The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-01-13

i.ed the debt he owed his mother. He felt
that he must go TO her. Ae her feet, with
bowed heal AMI shame stricken face he
NUT COMES his sins and then--let come
what would. lie would bear his punishment
With that thought he had come to the
depot hoping to escape detection and
rest and go 30 his home in Philadelphia.
When ! appeared he recognized me at
once An almost irresistible impu,sn drove
him to speak to me, to beg me to help him,
but his courage failed him. What followed
| 1 knew.
On my asking him his name and the ad
dress of his home in Philadelphia, what was
my establishment to learn that it was to the
house / myself was going
His story had occupied a couple of hours
/ in tine telling. and speeding
alone undisturbed, il was clearly evident
that thus far he was safe, and the question
that presented itself to me was--how was
he to leave the train
l at last formulated plan
Bidding him be- quite silent, l left the
drawing room. Locking the door and tax
ing the key with me, L made my way to
the conductor, and in the most insinuating
| manner | could assume 1 begged him to
permit me to 90 to the baggage car to get
| something l imperatvely needed from one
! of my trunks.
l might as well confess right here that in
, wanting to visit the baggage car 1 was
going what ''Fagin,' of dishonest
memory, would have called u prowl'
After little trouble and talk / obtained
my wish. When did a woman fail in OBJ
tanning kindness and courtesy from an
American official, high low, an
American railroad,
When | found myself in the baggage car
my conduct capricious, uncertain
and altogether idiotic that the baggageman
would have been perfectly justified in
throwing me out ON the track.
Trunk after trunk did he drag down and
open, only to be told that what [ wanted
was not there.
! OF course what wanted was not there!
Because what I wanted WAS Jumper
and pair of overalls, and they were lying
over in a corner on the floor in company
with lantern, that looked as if il might
be blushing for me, so red was its face.
Down upon these only articles I flung
my shawl, then l studded my toe, tripPed
and fell the shawl Before the good,
patient fellow. who had for more than an
hour been hauling my trunks around could
reach me tn haul me up, i had scrambled to
nv feet with that oily outfit safely bun
died in my shawl and the whole clasped
! Hose in INV arms.
In voice weak and shaking with fear of
discovery but which that misled baggage
man mi~took for fatigue, | gave up the
search, begged him to lock the trunks and
hastily nale my way back to my own
( car. hugginS that shawl was never
! shawl Rugged before.
There now time to be lost in
making up my comra,ie in crime. for by
/ this time felt like n full iedged burglar
! produced my dressing case and I pre-
sented him with pair of scissors. and de
manded the sacrifice of that interesting
blonde mustache. then | instructed him in
the application to his face. neck and hands
| of the preparation used in order to make
Rose Michel look like ruddy sun
Drowned peasant of Southern France.
/ then requested him to polish his boots
! with paste ! hastily concocted of face
/ powder and black pomade, and which
| combination produced a disgustingly good
! specimen OF mud. and when, after these ar
| tistic touches, his felt hat had had its rim
I cut off and had been thoroughly rolled on
the floor. and he had tf6Ted his coat and
waistcoat and collar and cravat and had
/ inlucted himself into the jumper and over
alls, he looked IA fair average brakeman or
! railroad hand.
| When the train arrived in Philadelphia
| one of the first 10 hurry from it, fol-
! lowed by my travelling companion who was
! buried to his chin with my belongings to
/ which was added his wardrobe wrapped in
| my shawl-indeel, by this time had come
to consider that article quite in the light OF
a confederate
/ | made NV way directly to the first car
riage I saw, and telling Tom for SO had
christened my comradel to place the pack
ages within and mount the box himself,
gave the address to which 1 was going to
| the coachman, and calmly and without any
| apparent hurry L entered the vehicle and
| was driven away.
! But oh, how frightened 1 was,
On my arrival / found my tribe as
sembled at the threshold to greet me. They
were too much occupied with me to notice
my travelling companion, whom babe assist
the coachman in bringing in the baggage,
and it was not until all this was DONE the
coachman paid and the carriage gone that
revealed 10 my astonished family the iden-
tity of my extraordinary looking travelling
companion
was told how his mother, never very
( strong, had been stricken down with what
seemed her death blow on hearing of the
shame and sin of her first born.
His father. with tears streaming down his
face. furrowed already with years and grief,
( hurried his prodigal away to try to restore
him to something like his natural appear
ance before yenturing to take him to his
mother bedside
Meantime tried to- prepare my mind to
Iittt Win u u
felous cell which momentarily expected TO
Z receive.
Ii did not come, however, and in "a few
hours the household settled down To its
( usual neutral tinted. religious calm and but
for the trembling Voice and fearful eyes of
the father OF the culprit, no one would have
guessed what a tragedy was being enacted
, within those circumspect walls.
A. To- the part had played at such very
short notice in this domestic drama,
looked back upon it with mingled feelings
of shame and terror. | particularly re-
queStet that might hear nothing further of
the matter, but be permitted to make my
little family visit quite ii the melo-
,lramatit. circumstances at my arrival had
never been.
NV request respected, l was even
excused from visiting the poor grief stricken
mother So both she and l were spared a